contemporary dance

Around 20 workshop participants pose in front of an abstract oil painting in a bright gallery. They are all in different positions inspired by the artwork. Many stretch their arms out and up as if reaching. Some arch their backs or bend forward.
Photo: Chika Kobari, courtesy of KinoSaito
  • Reviews

The Four Mothers of Miki Orihara, or Learning Dalcroze’s 20 Gestures with my Daughter

Caedra Scott-Flaherty

Miki Orihara explores early modern dance and mothers in her newest work.

Andrew Skeels, a White man with buzzed hair, wearing a black T-shirt, stands against a black background. He is turned to the side but looks directly out with a soft smile.
Photo: Damian Siqueiros
  • Interviews

Meanwhile, in an Indoor Meadow: An Interview with Andrew Skeels

Caedra Scott-Flaherty

A new dance and exhibition explore growth and change in an intimate setting.

Awash in a red light, three femme presenting performers dressed in black hold a boat constructed out of tape and twigs. They are putting two halves of it together: one looks like several apartment buildings all together and the bottom is a clearer boat shape. An oversized coat hangs in the background, along with many different puppets from previous moments scattered along the back of the stage.
Photo: REC Philly
  • Write Back Atchas

The Stories We Steal and the Stories We Make

Zoe Farnsworth

A rich performance of Kea Tawana’s life and how constructing reality can be both advantageous and destructive.

Four dancers move in front of a large abstract painting rich with textured color, their bodies reaching, extending, and twisting in multiple directions. Their hands and feet reach upwaerds, downwards, and away from us, creating dynamism in the air. Along the edges of the painting, bystanders stand and look--some at the dancers, others at something unseen.
Photo: Maria Baranova
  • Reviews

Perception is Participatory

Brendan McCall

John Jasperse frolics amidst fields of perception in this site-specific collaboration with artist Julie Mehretu.

Three people sit in an oblique triangle that fills the frame. To the left, a musician, Aabeizer, sits on a black bench in carpenter jeans and a dark t-shirt. His eyes are closed and his feet bare. He moves his hands around a circular plate and wooden dowels that extend from a wood board he holds against his chest. To the right, a saxophonist, Bhob Rainey, sits on a folding black chair in a black cardigan and grey pants, blowing into the mouthpiece and pressing the keys. Between them, a person with short red curls, Kayliani Sood, crosses their legs on a white stool, sitting higher than the musicians beside her. They wear brown shorts over grey pants and a black t-shirt with a blue square patch in the center. She rests one hand on her knee, and the other over their forearm, closes her eyes and tilts their head pensively to the right.
Photo: Loren Groenendaal
  • Reviews

Unscored Improvisation, H-O-T or Not?

Xander Cobb

Does dance need meaning to be meaningful?

The vast white skirt of a female dancer spreads out across the center of the stage, drawn and lifted by dancers concealed beneath it, resembling a giant wave. The dancers are constantly struggling to crawl out from within this undulating mass of soft fabric. With their upper bodies bare, they curl up on the ground, suspended in a state between weightlessness and struggle. The spotlight focuses on the white fabric and the figures at the center, plunging the surrounding space into darkness.
Photo: David Wong
  • Reviews

Bodies Exposed Under Hard Light: Encountering Fables

Yuying Chen

Virginie Brunelle's Fables reveals how bodies resist and transform.

On a black marley floor and dimly lit stage, Amalia Colon-Nava and Anna Scattoni stand far left facing the audience. Behind them, three more dancers are captured in motion. Amanda Rattigan and Kayliani Sood are leaping, as Ian “Seven” Tackes is mid-handstand.
Photo: Jano cohen
  • Reviews

Carrasco/Haworth DANCEUPCLOSE: Where Artistic Rigor & Wit Meet Tender Touch

Caitlin Green

The complexity of care and connection

A giant discoball hangs at the back of the theater, Philadelphia’s “biggest”. The stage is awash in red with a spotlight at the lip of the stage. The theater is empty; there is a sense of anticipation as the discoball takes over the frame of the photo.
Photo: Paige Phillips
  • Interviews

‘Don’t Stop Me Now’: A Philadelphia Dance Extravaganza

Zoe Farnsworth

A community dance extravaganza full of queerness, flirtiness and wild Queen Interpretations.

Three performers stand in a triangle in Studio 34. The camera blurs the background and focuses on their upper torsos and faces. The two dancers in backwear jeans and t-shirts; one laughs and the other holds a serious expression, bracing for impact. Together, they support the front dancer’s hips and shoulders. This third performer looks expectantly forward for the shove of another performer not in the photo.
Photo: Rachel Warriner
  • Interviews

Resistance and Art-Making: ‘Dancing Collective Power’

Zoe Farnsworth

Integrating improvisational dance skills into direct action protest

Joan Myers Brown and eight fellow choreographers, dancers, and company leaders seated on a panel discussion on a blue-lit stage at the Perelman Theater, following the performance.
Photo: Lauren Berlin
  • Reviews

Philadanco: Then and Now

Lauren Berlin

Aunt Joan, Philadanco, and a Philadelphia Legacy: 65 Years and Counting